Shawn Ann's Home and Garden

Thursday, June 2, 2016

It has been 2 years since I have updated my blog. There is a good reason for my absence that I will share. I have not been absent from my garden but I just couldn't keep up with both garden and blog. I still can't but maybe I can occasionally update.

At the end of 2014 my journey with MS (multiple sclerosis) began. It has made me exhausted and unable to keep up with both blogging and garden upkeep. I love my garden so much. I haven't let it go. I have reduced it a tiny bit, but not too much. I refuse to give up something I love so much and makes me feel so accomplished, as well as joy.

This year, we decided to sell our 2 story house and build a one story ranch style home to help me out. Right now we are in temporary housing as we build. So, in the meantime I have a garden at my church that I am encouraging others to be involved in and share in the bounty. It is nine 3 foot by 25 foot rows. I transplanted some of my perennials there in order to save and take with me. My husband is SOOO much help! He does so much heavy lifting and work for me. He must love me :)

I put so much work into the church garden so late, I am taking the opportunity to get planning my new garden for next year in the new house so I am not so behind, as I feel I am this year! I needed to plan an arrangement and I hope this is going to work! I may need to do some tweaking but hopefully I have the room for what I want to do! The yard will be smaller since the house will be more spread out being one story.

The ten boxes around the outside will be 3x6 cedar beds and the inside beds will be brick. We plan to have them lay sod except for around a 26x29 foot area where I plan to mulch it thick and then build beds on top and have them ready by late winter!

my kids playing in the 'basement' ha ha!

Well, I hope everyone is having a wonderful start to the summer gardening season!

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Last summer I made fermented dill pickles and Beet Kvass, my first two ferments. I was very happy with both of those. Since then I had been hoping to start making my own Kombucha too! Well, recently my friend was able to share some of her SCOBY's (symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast) with me. This makes a fermented tea full of probiotics and enzymes. She started me off with a batch already made, which I spilled most of on the way home and had to start all over, it all worked out! Just glad my car isn't stinky!

The bottles there are on their second ferment with grape juice, my favorite kombucha flavor! The big jar has my SCOBY and a new batch of sweet tea ready to ferment. I fermented the big jar about 7 days and the second ferment with juice in smaller bottles and jars I did for about 3 days.

Here are my 2 SCOBY's. One smaller one that my friend shared and the larger one is from my big jar, the baby. It makes a new baby every 2 batches or so. So I can share with my friends! My mom already wants to give this a try.

All my kids love the grape Kombucha, I am glad I now can make it so I can feel free to share. I didn't feel very free to share when I was paying $3-4 a 16 oz bottle! I know, not nice. My DH on the other hand hates it. Maybe I will find a recipe he will enjoy sometime. It definitely has a tart, maybe sweet and sour taste, sometimes strong depending on the flavor. But I like the bubbly that the second ferment gives it.

Here are the directions I followed from various sources and friends:

Made 2 gallons of tea (I have a BIG jar), I used a mixture of Yerbe Mate, black, and rooibos teas. Boiled the water up on the stove (I bought purified drinking water), added 1 cup of sugarper gallon and then steeped the bags in it for 15 minutes. Once it was completely cooled I put the SCOBY and 1 cup of reserved plain kombucha into the big jar with the tea. Then I covered with a light towel and put a elastic band on it and put it in the closet for 7 days. Then I removed the SCOBY and put it in a glass bowl with 1 cup of the kombucha and I mixed the remaining kombucha with a bottle of organic 100% grape juice and put it in bottles or jars with tight fitting lids and put it again in the closet for 3 days until bubbly or to my taste. I had to unscrew once a day or so to make sure the bottle did not bust from the pressure. Then I started a new batch with the SCOBY and reserved kombucha.

note: I never used metal or plastic utensils or containers, only glass and wooden spoons. Except for the stainless steel pot I used to make the tea, but the SCOBY never touched that.

Monday, May 19, 2014

It has been a while since I have participated in the Harvest Monday hop at Daphne's Dandelions. I thought maybe I would jump in with today's harvest. Not much variety, but a good bunch of spinach and lettuce that I am pleased to be getting in abundance. I attempted to make my own creamed spinach the other day with the bags I had pulled in then, but I wasn't too happy with it. If you have a good creamed spinach recipe, please share!

Spinach and Lettuce

My daughter had herself a plant stand sale instead of the typical lemonade stand. She made $16 in 1 1/2 hours. I'm pretty sure that is way better than a lemonade stand! ;) She still has more to sell too. Hopefully there are still folks looking for some tomato plants.

Potato bed, with a few other things mixed in. Peas on the edges. Potatoes include all blue and cranberry red.

Pepper bed, peas on the edge, some spinach that will be gone once the heat kicks in, garlic, onions and carrots planted among the peppers. There are 14 pepper plants including Chocolate bell, Marconi, Lipstick, Golden star Bell, and Serrano.

Tomato bed with garlic, onions and carrots planted among them. There are 7 tomato plants in this bed, but I had so many extra I have some scattered around here and there with a total of 17. Hmmm. Hope this gives me more sauce and salsa this year! They include Radiator Charlies Mortgage lifter, Great White, White Currant, Tess's Land Race Currant, Cherokee Purple, Hungarian Italian Paste, Pink Brandywine, Japanese Trifele Black, and Black Krim.

Cucumber, both pickle and slicing, along the trellis and a black beauty zucchini, lungo bianco zucchini, and a white scallop squash. Onions around the edges.

The second year for my asparagus. Glad it made it through the rough winter and all looks good.

Cleaning up and planting this back area of the yard behind an eroded ditch. It has looked pretty rough the past few years with only weeds and bare spots, but we planted some nice shade perennials and some shade grass and it is looking greatly improved. Still a lot of work to go though to fix the ditch and other spots.

Blueberries and strawberries are full! I can't wait to munch on them. Need to get them covered soon before the critters get to them! Especially that darn chipmunk!

Look at all those blueberries! This plant is the most productive looking so far.

By June the garden should be all lush and green and all filled in! I'll be sure to update!

I also have so many extra tomato plants I could have a sale! I foolishly added more seeds to the pots when the wouldn't germinate in the cold winter months and now I am shamelessly seeking out any friends that might take some along with all my other extras. Even asking people to start a garden! What could be wrong with that!? My neighbors have finally started a garden and I have completely filled their bed with my overabundance of starts! Better to have too many than not enough!

I sent my cousin in Virginia several of my sweet potato slips. I should have sent him more, cause I still have an abundance. Who knew the left over taters would supply such and abundance!

Well, Happy Gardening I hope your garden is off to a great spring start!

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Blogging has gotten a bit too much the last year or so. Just too much to do and not enough time, especially as my garden and my kids grow! But I am still hard at work in the garden, and I am overloaded with seedlings this spring! (Which I am sharing with friends close by! Come and get 'em!)

Monday, October 14, 2013

Here are some of my harvests from the week that got pictured for Harvest Monday at Daphne's Dandelions! I haven't been in on it lately because of the busyness of Cross Country with the kids, but I thought I had to get my sweet potato harvest in!

The rest of the beets were picked.

All Purple and Beauregard Sweet potoates

Muskue de Provence, beautiful isn't it! That is the best looking one so far!

Monday, September 23, 2013

Chinese Red noodle beans are doing well. Many of them are filling up with seed right now so I can save them so the production is slowing now.

I like my short little butternut, it is cute. It was a surprise that was hiding behind a bush. There is a bit of chard in there, serranos, Lungo Bianco squash, and a few slightly turning tomatoes.

Red Russian Kale

My second graders got to race (cross country) this week at the beautiful Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. They did a 3k and both did well for their longest race so far. 16:38 and 18:02. Proud of them in case you couldn't tell ;)

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Welcome to our KY Garden!

We are in upper zone 6. We enjoy edible gardening, flower gardening and Square Foot Gardening. We bought our house in 2007 and have made a LOT of changes to the landscaping since we have been here with more plans ahead of us. We would love to share our progress with you and all we learn. We also enjoy cooking for our family, we have 3 children that love the garden and the treasures that come from it! I have found that children who HAVE a garden love what comes out of it! I encourage anyone with little ones to grow a garden with their kiddos! Try anything! We love to try out all kinds of recipes with our garden loot and occasionally add recipes under the Recipes tab at the top.Come learn and share with us!